Few things were as reliable for the Nets last season as Jarvis Hayes coming off the bench. So, naturally, he’s probably headed for the starting unit this season.

“Whatever role L [coach Lawrence Frank] wants me in, I’m going to play it, whether it’s coming off the bench or in the starting lineup. It’s every player’s dream to start. I want to be a starter. But if the bench is my role on the team I’ll play it,” said Hayes, who showed his grit last season playing most of the last two months with torn ligaments in his left thumb.

“I don’t take anything for granted,” said Hayes, a bargain basement free agent two summers ago in a career that included two serious right knee injuries (fractured patella). “I tore ligaments in my thumb and it didn’t keep me out. I take the game seriously . . . you look at things different when you go through different things in your life and your career.”

In 71 games — he started once — Hayes supplied the Nets with 8.7 points and .445 shooting overall. Plus, he’s a terrific locker-room guy, a veteran type who’ll help far beyond stats on a team laded with a lot of young player types. Of the 15 players with guaranteed contracts, six have two seasons or less in the league, a seventh has three. Hayes, with six seasons, is a veritable Methuselah.

“We have to elevate this team from a leadership standpoint,” Hayes said of himself and the Nets other graybeards.

The starting small-forward job last year was distributed by need and circumstance throughout the season. The departed Vince Carter, Trenton Hassell, and Bobby Simmons all had extended tours as the starting three. Now Frank insisted yesterday that nothing is etched in stone — and rookie Terrence Williams is the apparent heir to the post — but Hayes at this point seems the likely choice.

“We’re going to have a lot of really good competition at a lot of different spots,” Frank said.

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Hayes has been impressed with Williams, especially on the defensive end. “He could come in and be a stopper right now at three different positions,” Hayes said.

Tony Battie is about 50 percent with sore right knee. He needs to build leg strength, the coach said. That could take up to two weeks.